Environmentally Friendly Caskets, Urns and Burials

Posted on December 29, 2017 by money

Buy urns and caskets from a progressive funeral provider based in Los Angeles, Undertaking LA. They provide funeral services in Los Angeles, California and they ship nationwide.

Willow burial casket

They offer environmentally friendly willow, bamboo and sea grass caskets. You can certainly find cheaper caskets is you wish, but these are much cheaper ($1,400) than most that funeral homes try to pressure relatives into buying.

They also offer Himalayan rock salt urns for cremation remains. The urn can be kept, it also can be placed in a lake or other body of water and will dissolve (in about 4 hours). The urns are $200 to $320.

Caitlin Doughty, the owner of Undertaking LA, hosts the Ask a Mortician web series.

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Japan’s Changing Funeral Practices in the Rapidly Aging Country

Posted on October 15, 2017 by money

High tech, IT and robots are at forefront in Japan’s funeral changes

Funerals are also pricey, costing about ¥2 million on average [$17,500]. Burial plots can be expensive as well, especially in crowded cities like Tokyo.

That has led a growing number of secular-minded Japanese to look for cheaper and simpler options.
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Nissei Eco … dressed Pepper in a Buddhist priest’s robe and programmed the robot to recite sutras. The firm, which has also been in the funeral business since 2000, said it plans to charge around ¥50,000 [$450] for Pepper’s services. The company also plans to offer live-streaming of funerals for mourners who are not physically able to bid farewell in person.
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Unlike monotheistic traditions, religious views in Japan are a unique blend of Buddhist and Shinto rituals with influence from other religions, such as Christianity. This ethic is encapsulated in the saying: born Shinto, live nonreligious, wed Christian and die Buddhist.

This relatively flexible and pragmatic approach to faith is apparent in the rising popularity of nontraditional funeral rites including scattering cremains at sea or creating cremation diamonds made from ashes of the deceased.

Many cultures have been slow to evolve funeral practices to the modern world. There seem to be numerous ways to do this that will bring benefits while retaining the value of practices that remain worthwhile.

One practice that we would all benefit from is more care to the feelings and personal finances of the survivors instead of having the funeral industry pressure people at a very stressful time. Some changes won’t appeal to some people, and that is fine, we should be able to chose among desireable options.

The $500 Funeral

Posted on September 9, 2017 by money

The New Hope Church in Allen County, Indiana is offering a reasonable priced funeral to provide dignity and respect to those being mistreated by the existing funeral industry. We must hope that more churches follow them in this caring move.

Funeral Arrangements and Graveyard Fees

at the moment of death, a massive corporate funeral industry with the tacit cooperation of the traditional churches and their leaders then inform the grieving survivors that they must now spend or borrow $10,000 to bury Mom or Dad or your dead brother in a graveyard with a Minister and a Marker.

It is appalling.

This is sinful, it is obvious and it systematically robs widows and orphans of the few pennies they have. I cannot continue to remain silent. I stand in sacred rage and must bear witness to this unholy injustice being perpetrated on people at the most vulnerable moments of their lives.

The current practices are appalling. We need to change. Those in Allan County Indiana have a reasonable alternative, but far too many people do not. Lets hope in the future more people will be free from the tyranny of the existing funeral industry.

People in the Funeral Business Are Trained to Take Advantage of Your Emotions

Posted on August 27, 2016 by money

[the video has been removed from the internet]

In this video a former family counselor at a funeral home explains his experience being trained to take advantage of vulnerable survivors when planning funerals. He was paid 30% commission on the total cost of a funeral.

The Economics of Death

Posted on April 16, 2016 by money

Crash Course is a wonderful series of webcasts on various topics (economics and more). This item isn’t solely on affordable funeral services but it is pretty closely related so I thought it would be interesting to many of our readers, enjoy:

One of the import issues they discuss is the huge amount of health care spending at the end of life.

They also do discuss funeral costs: median price for funeral and burial in the USA was $7,181 (not including burial plot or the headstone) and for a funeral and cremation was $6,078.

The webcast recommend planning as the best advice to reduce costs of end of life care and funeral costs and we agree. As we have said in other posts, the funeral industry often plays on people’s fragile emotions to drain their bank account. By planning ahead and not leaving your survivors venerable you can help them avoid being taken advantage of.

USA Funeral Cost Study

Posted on January 18, 2016 by money

The Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA) and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) released a report based on a national survey of the prices and price disclosures of a representative sample of 150 funeral homes from ten different regions of the USA.

The survey revealed significant price differences – for example, from $2,580 to $13,800 for a full-service funeral – and the failure of most funeral homes to disclose their prices adequately: Only 38 of the 150 homes (25%) fully disclosed prices on their websites, while 24 (16%) failed to fully disclose prices both on their website and in response to an email and a phone call.

table of funeral prices for several cities and several funeral options

“Most funeral homes need to give consumers much better access to price information,” said Josh Slocum, FCA’s Executive Director. “The Federal Trade Commission should update antiquated disclosure rules developed in the pre-Internet 1980s, just as California has successfully done,” he added.

For example, California requires funeral homes to disclose on their websites the same prices the FTC requires funeral homes to disclose by phone or in an in-person visit. 13 of 15 surveyed California funeral homes fully disclosed prices on their websites.

“The FTC needs to require funeral homes to disclose prices clearly and completely on their websites,” said FCA’s Slocum. “This disclosure will greatly increase consumer search for price information. It will also allow journalists, consumer information services, and consumer groups to much more easily research, compare, and report on prices,” Slocum added.

See our previous post on shopping for funeral services.

Full press release on the national funeral cost study.

Las Vegas Entrepreneur Takes on Overpriced Burial Caskets

Posted on February 23, 2015 by money

Rest in Peace for Less With Caskets Made in China

in 1972, the Federal Trade Commission began a decade-long investigation into the industry’s anticompetitive practices. In 1984 the FTC passed the Funeral Rule, which ended prepackaging and forced funeral homes to provide price sheets and offer services and products a la carte.

The law also requires funeral homes to let consumers bring their own casket at no charge. Malamas was far from the first to spot an opportunity. Online retailers began appearing in the late 1990s, and Costco jumped into the game in 2004, to much media coverage….
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In 1960 fewer than 4 percent of dead Americans were cremated, according to the Cremation Association of North America. In 2012 the figure was 43 percent and is expected to continue rising. Cremations cost less than a third of traditional funerals.

Consumers deserve better than the exploitation of their emotions by those seeking to charge outrageous amounts for funeral services. We need entrepreneurs like Jim Malamas, ACE Caskets, and large companies like Costco that are focused on customer value instead of those trying to line their pockets when people are emotionally vulnerable.

Cremations are increasing for several reasons but the high cost of burial is likely a very significant factor.

The large companies are needed to fight the law suits brought by those taking advantage of consumers today and to fight through the corruption of the current system. The corruption of the current political system is used by those taking advantage of consumers to give politicians cash so they will introduce anti-competitive practices into state regulation and laws. These are overturned with enough cash to pay lawyers to fight the corruption but it costs money so we need large companies that can afford to fight it to be involved.

Crowdfunding for High Funeral Costs

Posted on September 22, 2014 by money

I would rather reduce the excessive costs the system currently imposes. But that is still a work in progress. As long as the excessive costs remain this is one option for those that don’t leave an estate sufficient for covering the costs.

Crowdfunding Funeral Costs for a Loved One

With the average funeral now topping $7,045, according to the National Funeral Directors Association, families often find that saying goodbye to their loved ones comes with a higher price tag than they anticipated.
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GoFundMe is currently hosting more than 8,000 funeral campaigns.
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A crowdfunding campaign can also turn into an online memorial, a place for loved ones to share special memories and connect with others in a shared grief.

“The original intent and purpose [of a funeral crowdfunding campaign] is to raise money but, in a dark time, it’s also a place to celebrate a loved one’s life,” says Vargas. “It brings people together from all over the country who can’t make it to the funeral but want to say goodbye.”

I do like the idea of online memorials that let people share their thoughts and feelings.

Sadly our world if full of scammers. I would donate to one of these funds without real world confirmation that it was properly set up. I can certainly imagine criminals will post such things about people that really died and then take the money and run. This is sad, but I feel a likely scenario.

Statistics on Cremation

Posted on January 16, 2014 by money

The cremation rate in the USA in 2012 was 43%, quite a bit higher than I would have guessed. Cremation costs are significantly lower than casket and burial costs – perhaps 20-30% (the national average cremation costs were $1,650 in 2012). Direct cremation, without a memorial service, should cost below $1,000.

Cremation rates have been increasing over time and are projected to continue doing so. In 1998 the cremation rate was just 24% is the USA.

There is a quite a variation between states. Nevada had a 74% cremation rate, Washington 73%, Oregon 71%, Hawaii 70%, Maine 69%, Louisiana 23%, Kentucky 22%, Alabama 20%, Mississippi 17%.

International cremation statistics for 2010: Japan 99.94%, UK 73%, China 49%, France 13%.

Data from: Cremation Association of North America and International cremation stats

Shopping for Funeral Services

Posted on October 15, 2013 by money

The Federal Trade Commission has a consumer information site with information on shopping for funeral services. The take on the process is obviously very influenced by the lobbyist for the funeral services industry but it does provide some guidelines to avoid the worst fraud and abuse by those seeking to take advantage of those grieving.

Some of the tips include:

Shop around in advance. Compare prices from at least two funeral homes. Remember that you can supply your own casket or urn.
Provide the funeral home with a casket or urn you buy elsewhere. The funeral provider cannot refuse to handle a casket or urn you bought online, at a local casket store, or somewhere else — or charge you a fee to do it. The funeral home cannot require you to be there when the casket or urn is delivered to them. (note from affordable funeral blog: Costco provides good casket options)
Ask for a price list. The law requires funeral homes to give you written price lists for products and services.
Resist pressure to buy goods and services you don’t really want or need.
Avoid emotional overspending. It’s not necessary to have the fanciest casket or the most elaborate funeral to properly honor a loved one.
Recognize your rights. Laws regarding funerals and burials vary from state to state. It’s a smart move to know which goods or services the law requires you to purchase and which are optional.
Make funeral arrangements without embalming. No state law requires routine embalming for every death. Some states require embalming or refrigeration if the body is not buried or cremated within a certain time; some states don’t require it at all. In most cases, refrigeration is an acceptable alternative. In addition, you may choose services like direct cremation and immediate burial, which don’t require any form of preservation. Many funeral homes have a policy requiring embalming if the body is to be publicly viewed, but this is not required by law in most states. Ask if the funeral home offers private family viewing without embalming. If some form of preservation is a practical necessity, ask the funeral home if refrigeration is available.
Shop in advance. It allows you to comparison shop without time constraints, creates an opportunity for family discussion, and lifts some of the burden from your family.

Affordable Funeral Services

Providing Sensible Options

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